Church & State | Nice IFF 2018

Church & State tells the improbable story of a politically incorrect and inexperienced gay activist who joined forces with a tiny law firm to topple Utah’s ban on gay marriage.

The film offers a look inside the Mormon church’s history of persecution and decades of political opposition to gay marriage, and a glimpse at the behind-the-scene squabbles between gay rights activists that could have derailed Utah’s case.

Church & State is a story about the audacity and sheer will that upended Utah’s status quo. A story of triumph, setbacks and the little-known lawsuit that should have failed, but instead became the domino that knocked down gay marriage bans in dozens of states and paved the way for the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized gay unions nationwide.